New Surveys and Material Analyses Indicate Major Cobalt Discovery A Potential Additional Company Maker With Possible Higher In-Ground Values of Cobalt In Excess of Santa Fe's Current Gold And Silver Holdings

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., May 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Santa Fe Gold Corporation (OTC:SFEG), a U.S. based mining and exploration enterprise with emphasis on Gold, Silver, Copper, Precious, Industrial and Base metals and owner of multiple claims, including eight advanced projects containing numerous additional mine sites with early production potential is pleased to announce initial results of a comprehensive pre-production trenching and independent testing program across a broad spectrum of its Alhambra Silver Mine and Tailings, initially showing Silver grades of up to 35.8 oz per ton with additional drill target results over coming weeks involving upwards of 100 samples.

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT ANALYSIS FOR SANTA FE

Analysis Of Five Rock Chip Random Material Samples

ITEM

Analyte

Au

Au

Ag

Ag

Ag

NO.

Units

Toz/t

Toz/t

ppm

Toz/t

ppm

Limit

0.001

0.001

0.1

0.10

0.2

Package Code

FA-01

FA-03

FA-08

FA-03

TE-2

SAMPLE ID

1

#1

<0.001

<0.001

>150.0

29.7

>150.0

2

Newest

<0.001

<0.001

>150.0

35.8

>150.0

3

AL 1

0.005

0.006

5.3

0.19

8.6

4

AL 2

0.025

0.033

4.3

0.14

5.6

5

All Dump

0.027

0.031

17.9

0.75

39.4

Furthermore, the company is also set to announce a potential significant Cobalt discovery that could be a company maker in its own right and is also pleased to report it is in contact with one of the largest global purchasers of Cobalt interested in establishing a long-term relationship with regard to Santa Fe Gold becoming a provider of Cobalt and possibly other rare earth elements as well.

President and CEO Tom Laws Comments

We are pleased to report these initial results of our pre-production testing and are optimistic that the broad spectrum of tests results currently underway will prove to be considerably better than most Silver mines and will further establish and confirm Santa Fe Gold's 'One of a Kind' Alhambra Silver Mine as a potential multi-decade producer of both Silver and potentially Cobalt with additional elements to be added as the project is further expanded through its early development stages and increased multi metallic production in time. The state of the art processing method that Santa Fe Gold intends to employ can separate each element individually for sale to buyers.

Given these findings it is believed that current mine output material will run contained ounces of at least 13.3 oz (377 grs) per ton silver. This is encouraging in that this material can be concentrated at the surface with minimal cost creating a saleable product containing up to 150 ozs silver per ton of concentrate. The initial plan at Alhambra will be to produce the dump material which will include the richer quality known vein where grades are unusually high, as will be borne out in upcoming tests, using a crushing and a flotation system to produce concentrate. Once the concentrate is fully maximized, we will be selling that concentrate into the market to a number of purchasers both locally and overseas and later switching to a state of the art processing system.

Plans for a second production source with a mill tailing reclamation project in another location are already underway. Drilling and assaying of this additional material will commence in the near future.

About Santa Fe Gold

Santa Fe Gold is a U.S.-based mining and exploration enterprise and owns the following mining assets: The Knight’s Peak region of Grant County, New Mexico comprising the Malone Mines, Patanka, Hillcrest, Barranca and Principal Mines, altogether incorporating some twenty mine sites and all located at Knight’s Peak, together with an expanded area surrounding the Malone Mines in the southern region of Burro Mountains, New Mexico. The company also owns very significant holdings in the Playas Lake Bed Area of Hidalgo County that includes the presences of Titanium ore and rare earth minerals and deposits. It also owns Bullard's Peak Corporation and Black Hawk Consolidated Mines incorporating the Alhambra Silver mine along with a potential major Porphyry Silver discovery and additional deposits of Cobalt, Lithium, Manganese and Nickel and nearby Sunset Lode and Sunset Placer Gold and Silver Deposits located in the Pinos Altos District of Grant County, New Mexico. Substantial amounts of historical data relating to all of the above properties are being analyzed regarding their hi-grade Gold and Silver Mines and surrounding deposits, in particular for their significant occurrences of Cobalt, Lithium, Manganese, Nickel and other Rare Earth Discoveries. The company also owns and operates the Quartzite Creek Placer Gold property, located northeast of Takia Landing in the Omineca Mining Division of British Columbia, Canada and the Harris Creek Placer Gold located in the Vernon Mining Division of British Columbia, southwest of the town of Lumby.

Santa Fe Gold’s Exploration and Development Team continues to be very active regarding exploration, surveillance, research, acquisition of multiple additional properties as it finalizes analysis of a number of attractive and economically viable new prospects.

The company continues to execute on its aggressive acquisition program that is totally focused on positioning Santa Fe Gold to resume mining and production operations from multiple sources expected in the near to medium term.

For more information, disclosures and to register to receive report and updates:

Newswire Distribution Network & Management

About Us

GlobeNewswire is one of the world's largest newswire distribution networks, specializing in the delivery of corporate press releases financial disclosures and multimedia content to the media, investment community, individual investors and the general public.